Tag Archives: F/V JMT

A list of so-called ‘Safety Lessons’ has been published following the sinking of a fishing boat in which two men from Teignmouth died. Skipper Michael Hill, who was 22, and crewman Shane Hooper, a 33-year-old father of three, died when the scalloper JMT went down four miles off Rame Head last July. The MAIB investigation identified that: • JMT capsized and sank at around 1501 on 9 July 2015; the weather was good at the time, with slight seas. • The vessel had only 25% of the reserve of stability required by larger fishing vessels. • The vessel’s stability had been adversely affected by structural modifications and by aspects of the vessel’s operation. • Capsize was possibly triggered by emptying the starboard dredges while the port dredges and their contents remained suspended. • The crew’s likelihood of survival was reduced by not having the opportunity to broadcast a distress message, release the EPIRB from its stowage, lifejackets not being worn and the failure of the liferaft to surface. Read the report, and the article here 12:11

NILS STOLPE: The New England groundfish debacle (Part IV): Is cutting back harvest really the answer?

While it’s a fact that’s hardly ever acknowledged, the assumption in fisheries management is that if the population of a stock of fish isn’t at some arbitrary level, it’s because of too much fishing. Hence the term “overfished.” Hence the mandated knee jerk reaction of the fisheries managers to not enough fish; cut back on fishing. What of other factors? They don’t count. It’s all about fishing, because fishing is all that the managers can control; it’s their Maslow’s Hammer. When it comes to the oceans it seems as if it’s about all that the industry connected mega-foundations that support the anti-fishing ENGOs with hundreds of millions of dollars a year in “donations” are interested in controlling. Read the article here

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has recommended a dozen Massachusetts-based marine research programs receive funding this year including more than $900,000 for UMass Dartmouth to conduct four Read More »

Voluntary dockside exams are free. The Coast Guard has an online vessel-specific checklist generator at www.fishsafe.info. Vessel operators can print out a list of all safety requirements. Contact Read More »